Following the Annual Meeting, we will move into this month's forum. Many commercial and industrial processes can lead to contamination of the environment with hazardous substances. Fortunately, there are also many Maine companies with specialized experience in removal of these contaminants from soil, groundwater, sediment, surface water and other environmental media.

This panel represents just a sampling of those companies and environmental remediation technologies and processes they bring in to tackle some tough and dirty jobs and decide “how clean is clean?”

What are the technical limitations, benefits and costs, human health and environmental risks, regulatory compliance, and sustainability issues related to site cleanups? We will respond to these questions based on petroleum releases and other hazardous materials and contaminants of concern at sites throughout the northeast. Is the answer different depending on whom is paying the bill? How much energy do you expend to clean a site versus the environmental benefit?

Guy Cote, Sevee & Maher & Jeffrey Talbert, Preti Flaherty – Mercury

The Mallinckrodt facility, formerly known as HoltraChem, sits on 235 acres on the banks of the Penobscot River in Orrington, Maine and is the largest remediation site in the State. The Maine BEP Compliance Order for the site requires the removal or maintenance of five landfills; the removal of contaminated soils, sediments, and contaminated structures; and the treatment of groundwater and surface water. Mercury pollution deposited through the Penobscot River could threaten the area’s fishing and tourism industries. Speakers will discuss what is now the largest environmental remediation project in Maine.

Patrick Coughlin, St. Germain Collins – Dioxin

How "clean is clean” when dealing with cleanup levels for dioxin at the parts per trillion levels? Utility poles often contain dioxin in the mix of chemicals used to treat the poles, and drips from those poles contaminate pole storage yards over time. With extensive transmission systems across New England, the cleanup of historical pole storage yards can vary widely depending on which state the site is located. Along with providing information on the chemical characteristics and regulatory status of dioxin, St.Germain Collins will discuss innovative and cost-effective field testing for dioxin in the face of different regulatory oversight and rules in Maine, New Hampshire in Vermont.